Pakistan Studies (Class 8): Pakistan Movement, Early Years, Constitutions and Geography

• 1906 – Simla Deputation (Oct); All-India Muslim League founded at Dhaka (30 Dec).
• 1916 – Lucknow Pact between the Muslim League and Congress.
• 1919–1924 – Khilafat Movement.
• 1928 – Nehru Report; 1929 – Quaid's Fourteen Points in reply.
• 1930 – Allama Iqbal's Allahabad Address; 1930–32 – Round Table Conferences in London.
• 1935 – Government of India Act; 1937 – provincial elections; Congress ministries until 1939.
• 22 December 1939 – Day of Deliverance when Congress ministries resigned.
• 23 March 1940 – Lahore Resolution (Pakistan Resolution), moved by A. K. Fazlul Haq.
• 1942 – Cripps Mission; 1944 – Gandhi–Jinnah talks; 1945 – Simla Conference.
• 1945–46 – elections: Muslim League won all Muslim seats in the central assembly.
• 1946 – Cabinet Mission Plan; 16 August 1946 – Direct Action Day.
• 3 June 1947 – partition plan announced by Lord Mountbatten; 14 August 1947 – Pakistan created.

Sindh's role: on 3 March 1943 the Sindh Assembly became the first provincial assembly to pass a resolution for Pakistan, moved by G. M. Syed.

The two-nation theory held that Muslims and Hindus of the subcontinent were two separate nations with their own religion, culture, history and way of life, and that Muslims therefore needed a separate homeland where they could live according to Islam. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan first spoke of Muslims as a separate nation; Allama Iqbal gave it a political form; the Quaid turned it into the demand for Pakistan.

• Settlement of millions of refugees.
• Division of assets – India delayed Pakistan's share of cash and military stores.
• Kashmir dispute (1947–48 war; UN resolutions call for a plebiscite).
• Canal water dispute – solved by the Indus Waters Treaty (1960).
• Setting up a new government with little office equipment, initially in Karachi, the first capital.
• Objectives Resolution – passed on 12 March 1949; later made part of every constitution.

• 1956 – first constitution; Pakistan declared an Islamic Republic; abrogated in 1958.
• 1962 – presidential system under Ayub Khan.
• 1973 – current constitution; parliamentary system with a bicameral parliament (National Assembly and Senate); passed under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto; came into force on 14 August 1973.
• The 18th Amendment (2010) gave more powers to the provinces.

• Physical regions: northern mountains (Himalaya, Karakoram, Hindu Kush), western mountains (Sulaiman, Kirthar), Potohar Plateau, Balochistan Plateau, Indus plain, deserts (Thar, Cholistan, Thal, Kharan) and the coastal area.
• Pakistan's coastline is about 1,000 km long (Sindh and Balochistan).
• Major crops: wheat (staple food), cotton (main cash crop, base of the textile industry), rice, sugarcane, maize.
• Minerals and energy: natural gas (Sui, discovered 1952), coal (Thar, Lakhra), rock salt (Khewra), chromite, copper (Saindak, Reko Diq). Hydropower from Tarbela and Mangla.
• Textiles are Pakistan's largest export industry.
• Population (2023 census): about 241 million; Pakistan is the fifth most populous country.

• Joined the United Nations on 30 September 1947.
• Founding member of the OIC (1969) and SAARC (1985); founded ECO with Iran and Turkey (developed from the RCD of 1964; renamed in 1985).
• Pakistan hosted the second OIC Summit at Lahore (1974).
• Close friendship with China: the Karakoram Highway and China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with Gwadar port as its southern gateway.